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Ogden Goelet was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age. With his wife, he built Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island, his son built Glenmere mansion, and his daughter, Mary Goelet, married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe.

Ogden Goelet was born on September 29, 1851 in Manhattan, New York City to Sarah Ogden (1809–1888) and Robert Goelet (1809–1879). His father, Robert, was a prominent landlord in New York, as was his uncle, Peter Goelet, who was named after Peter Goelet (1727–1811), Ogden's great-grandfather. His parents resided at 5 State Street, overlooking the Battery in Manhattan.

His elder brother was real estate developer Robert Goelet (1841–1899) and his nephew was Robert Walton Goelet (1880–1941). His paternal aunt, Hannah Green Goelet (1804–1845), married Thomas Russell Gerry (1794–1848), the son U.S. Vice President Elbridge Gerry. His first cousin was Elbridge Thomas Gerry (1837–1927).

Along with his brother, he managed the real estate of his father, Robert Goelet, and his uncle Peter Goelet, who both died in 1879. After his father and uncles deaths, he inherited almost half their fortune, along with his brother. In New York, he was one of the stockholders of the Metropolitan Opera House, holding Box No. 1.

He had several yachts including his schooner, Norseman that was designed by William Townsend and built in 1881 at the Richard & Cornelius Poillon shipyard in Brooklyn. From 1893 he also chartered Lillie Langtry's yacht the White Ladye.[8] His final yacht was named Mayflower and was designed by George Lennox Watson in 1896 and built on the Clyde (Scotland) by J & G Thompson. After Goelet's death the yacht was sold to the US Navy and became the famous USS Mayflower (PY-1). Goelet's brother, Robert, had an almost identical yacht built at the same time and in the same yard and this later became USS Nahma (SP-771).

He and his wife owned a townhouse at 608 Fifth Avenue in New York City and a villa in Nice, France. When in London, they resided at Wimbourne House.

In 1892, he and his wife commissioned Ochre Court, a châteauesque mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. The home was built at a cost of $4.5 million and was the second largest mansion in Newport after nearby The Breakers, both designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt.

In 1878, he married Mary Rita Wilson, daughter of Richard Thornton Wilson Sr. and Melissa Clementine Johnston. Her siblings included Richard Thornton Wilson Jr. and Grace Graham Wilson Vanderbilt.[11] Together, they had: Mary Goelet (1878–1937), who later married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (1876–1932) in 1903 Robert Goelet II (1880–1966), who built Glenmere mansion.

He was a member of the New York Yacht Club for 17 years, as well as the Knickerbocker Club, Metropolitan Club, and Union Club.

On August 27, 1897, after over five years spent abroad, Goelet died aboard his yacht in the town of Cowes in the Isle of Wight after having been ill for two months. He had been attended to by William Broadbent, doctor to the Prince of Wales, with whom he was close friends. His family and body sailed back to the United States and his funeral was held aboard his yacht in Newport and he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York). In his will, he left his entire estate to his wife and two children.

His wife, Mary, who died in 1929, was known as one of the viceregal leaders of the Ultra-fashionable 150, among Mrs. Astor, Mrs. Ogden Mills, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.